


The Game Is Now, Review

by The_Persian_Slipper



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Meta, Sherlock Meta, Spoilers for The Game is Now escape room, TJLC, The Game is Now review
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 12:16:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21036116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Persian_Slipper/pseuds/The_Persian_Slipper
Summary: I’ve completed The Game is Now last week with my dear team members, tumblr users @thejohnlockoutlet, @sherlockedcarmilla and @todaywearesoldiers (Go team “Redbeard was a Dog”!!!). And I’ve been thinking about what we have experienced in the Escape Room.I have to be totally honest, I didn’t pay 100% attention to every cut-scene and video that was shown (we were solving puzzles and all…) but I would like to discuss my impressions with you…





	The Game Is Now, Review

**1- Virus and anti-virus**

From what I gathered, The Network agents have been falling ill and dying from a mysterious disease. One of them (a male agent married to a man named Stephen) is processed at St. Barts’ by Molly, who isolates a strange virus. Molly asks for John’s input on her discovery. John says that the virus does indeed look strange “almost man-made”.

That exchange brought this to my mind:

  
  


At the same time, Moriarty has kidnaped Mycroft and will only release him if we take the virus and spread it to the multiple Network agents around the world. It was a strange virus indeed, one that could infect human beings and be uploaded through computers_ (unless i missed some explanation on the cutscenes). _We then succeed to stop the virus from uploading and infecting the agents, thus winning the game. 

If we go into TAB meta territory, **Moriarty** (_who called himself the virus of Sherlock’s brain _and who also represents repression and homophobia), has kidnapped **Mycroft **(Sherlock’s mind/logic reasoning). The ones to stop him and delete the virus are **us **(the audience, the fans). 

_ **If Moriarty is the virus, we are the anti-virus.** _

How about that?

**2- Medical stuff**

Another thing that drew my attention was the amount of medical elements to the escape room. From the “virus”, to Molly’s office, to the last room, the “Operating Theatre”. As a surgeon, let me assure you that modern operating theaters are nothing like that. It resembled more of a medical museum, with pretty wooden cabinets and operating instruments from the _19th century._.. Interesting how the first two rooms were so contemporary and the last one ties in with the Mind Palace Bar. 

In that last room, each cabinet represented a part of the body. You could see that each cabinet was topped with a pretty wooden rosette symbolizing the heart, the brain, the lungs, and a geometrical pattern that i would suppose symbolized the soul. We had to solve each of the puzzles inside the cabinets to make them work and override the system so the virus could be stopped.

That also brought to my mind the EMP/Coma theory for S4 that has been discussed around tumblr. 

Again, if we put our meta glasses on, the virus has taken the mind hostage, while the soul (Sherlock) is absent. The soul has been watching and helping from a distance, but it is the anti-virus job to restart every part of the body to ultimately defeat the virus and release the mind.

That would also explain the [Escape Room trailer](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DU6NoiAK1EsY&t=ZTQzODhmOWQ1ODc0ZWMzYzAxMDdhN2Q0ZGE1YzU0Mzg1OGZhYWRkYSw5ZmFlZmIxNDEwMWQyMDU5NmM5OTc4Mzc0NzE5YzQyYmM3M2NkOTM4) that included a pupil contracting and dilating, an image of blood cells floating, and a chest xray, along with the sound of a heart pumping.

**3 - In conclusion**

I think that perhaps we can tie the escape room story with the S4 EMP/coma theory. 

The anti-virus enters the system through a [facade](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2F221B%2Fstatus%2F1108750067735900166&t=MjhkMGQyMDQ0MTExZGRiYTQ0NzMzMTI2NjM4NWNhNjJhNTMxN2Y4OCwxZWViZGVhNjc1YTUxZmU0ZTYwYzUwMWUzMmUxNDQ1OWI2YTAyYThk) (run by a reluctant **Heart**) into the 221B sitting room (with the[ fucky skull picture ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2F221B%2Fstatus%2F1096805784690847744&t=MDUyOTU1ZTRhZDRlNWZlYzVhMDRiNWUyMmE0YzkyZGVjZWI0NTc3MywwOWYwNzBkYTAwODFjYmVkMzFlNzViYjQ0OWVhZjg2YTdkMzk5YWQ4)on the wall). The **Soul** has been absent in “Sweden” but still looking on and helping from afar. The **Virus, **who had been killing off the **Mind’s** minions, kidnaps the **Mind **himself and it takes the **Anti-Virus **to restart every part of the body to defeat the virus and release the** Mind.**


End file.
